End of summer...

 Summer officially ended six days ago, it was hot, cloudy and humid as it has been the past couple of weeks. Only thing alive in my garden plots is still the oregano. We did get a spattering of rain, drizzle really so nothing much watered the ground due to the heat. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evenings for the most part are clear and calm, the caterpillars are ravaging the liquidamber trees again but doesn't seem to be as much as last year. Still some damage but last time I could get a broom and sweep up the poop on the sidewalk but not this time. It rained the night before I was going to do it so that didn't work out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evidence of both rain and caterpillars at the entrance to the garden the day after. Only other sign was damp soil on the right which is due to the grade of the soil draining in that direction. Rocky was feeling brave and decided to thoroughly investigate the lizard home, gathering some spider webs on his nose as well. (The dark clumps are from roots I pulled out of the west bed a few days before).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a DIY  video on making your own seedling containers out of a toilet paper tube. They were using a much longer tube than my TP is on but I did have a paper towel tube. Measured the total length (11 inches), did some math and it worked out I would get four small containers out of one tube. The only measurement I did not have was how deep to cut the tabs to fold on the bottom. I guessed and that's why there's one just a tad taller than the other. I saved out another tube today and will see about getting some soil soon. I watered the west bed thoroughly the other day and got the shovel and the cultivator out to mix it all around. Needs another bag or two of soil as well. I didn't bother watering down the raised bed or the south bed because that needs a good hose with a sprayer on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay so I dumped one bucket of water on the west side of the raised bed and stirred it around. Hoping there will be some soil on sale next month.

It is also fungus season. I noticed this white cap, mostly eaten by snails or slugs yesterday while taking Rocky out, the next day, it is almost completely gone. Next time I need to get rid of mollusks I'll have to remember that.

Until I get a better hose or fix the existing one, planting will have to wait. Still rather warm but nights are starting to cool down. It's almost full dark by 7 pm now so gardening is earlier in the day, forgot to get out and water the oregano today. Oh well. It'll survive. Something about that patch of grass too, I think someone is letting their dog pee there. Several spots of dead grass just on the surface. 

Not my yard, not my problem. 

Long time, nothing to post

 The weather continues as it has, cooling only slightly this week but then will bump up again. The difference is only about 10 degrees so not enough to leave things open during the day.

The stalwart liquidamber tree and some bare branches in the foreground from caterpillar damage on another one. I haven't seen much damage compared to last year even though I saw a few Mourning Cloak butterflies flitting around a month ago. Yes this is the same picture as last time but that's because not much has changed.

I finally gave up on the tomato and pulled it up. It should have a LOT more roots than that which explains why it's doing so poorly. So on the compost it went, the cage I laid down on the south bed and then proceeded to think.

I decided yesterday to dump the remaining three bags of soil in the bed. Temperature just before sunset was still in the low 80's but at least it was shaded on the garden.

Not much of a level difference after using the cultivator and the shovel to mix things around. I also added a couple of cups of fertilizer and mixed it in because that's what you do. I didn't water because the hose is still useless. I've been using the bucket and jug because there wasn't much to water but now, I need another three or four bags of soil and a good spray nozzle. I need that soil level up to the top so next month I'm hoping to get two bags of raised bed soil and two of the in ground. If there's any on sale that's what I'll get. Oh.. I just noticed in that picture, the one pair of boards look really spooky.

So I decided to get the sprayer from my hose off and opened the closet to find... the rest of the other hose.

What boggles my mind is how can a hose that still has the coiling memory of a practically unused hose have a nozzle that looks totally worn out? Why did they just toss that part of the hose in there instead of throwing it away? I'll be taking both those hoses and tossing them in the trash hopefully tonight. I'm just absolutely at a loss for reasoning and words on the condition of the hose and the reasoning.

No extra money this month, again. So unless something comes through in the next few weeks another wait until next month to try and get supplies.

Horse latitudes and doldrums of summer

 What does that have to do with gardening? Weather. 

"The Horse Latitudes are zones of calm wind and high pressure at about 30° north and south latitude, where air from the doldrums sinks. Historically, ships in the horse latitudes would run out of food and water while becalmed, sometimes leading to horses being thrown overboard."

 

So that's where we are, heat advisory for the next three days. Not exactly no wind, but it is a hot desert kind of wind. Mornings have that cool heat anticipation feel but it is wonderful as long as you stay in the shade. It is going to be 90+ for the next five days with very little wind but thankfully cooling at night but not until well after dark. We didn't open up last night until after 8pm. I managed to get out yesterday after sunset and fill the bucket almost full with water after almost emptying what I had in it to water the tomato and oregano. 

Clear and crisp skies yesterday and today and will continue for another week. The parrots were having a wonderful time in the trees last night and one last one this morning was left that squawked and flew off as I was letting Rocky roam around.

And formatting for photos has gone FUBAR again. 

 

Roses are blooming again after being stripped in July. The flowers are smaller than they should be because it's a second bloom cycle but that is to be expected. Probably 30+ year old bushes and they've likely been doing this from year one. Sigh.

 The asparagus fern is blooming again, wonderful fragrance depending on the wind. It was a pleasant time hanging out in the area this morning.

Stupid formatting isn't letting me post parallel/in line photos together.

So the tomato had some damaged leaves, something was gnawing on them of the insect variety so I pulled them off and doused it with about a gallon and a half of water. Dumped about a half gallon of water on the oregano as well. You can see how it ran off due to uneven soil but it'll survive. The tomato hasn't grown much and the leaves are really thick. Not thin like spring leaves at all but the water well is helping immensely to keep the water around the root zone, as it should.

Something kicked some dirt around in the south bed. I think it may have been a cat but not going to worry since I'm not watering that bed and only have cilantro seeds scattered around there. After the first rains of winter it'll likely sprout like crazy. If not I have plenty of seeds. 

Definitely more like desert weather than tropics because now the humidity is much lower at 32% when we had the tropical storm last week it was up in the 60's. Blech.

 

Staying inside, staying cool as we can until the afternoon when the sun blasts the front wall. Keep cool as you can, hydrate and low stress.
 

Repeat of the weather and other things

 The only difference today is it didn't get 'quite' as hot, but still had to close up and run the AC all day.

Looking South East when I went out this evening, clouds were a bit more pink than in the photo. Apparently there's rain in those clouds according to the tv weather, not a drop came our way.

I got antsy about moving dirt around so got the cultivator and raked through the West bed and moves some dirt around in the raised bed. I think I even hacked at the south bed. 

 

Pulled out clumps of roots and then decided since it was loose dirt, put the chicken wire cover over it. Just for insurance even though I know it's the wrong time of year for digging, random cats might find their way.

I realized something when I was filling the water bucket, the lemon tree is growing mostly toward the path. Which, happens to be where the most water is from the capped sprinkler and where the hose tends to be shut off. Not to mention more of the sun is on that side.

I saw a Layla again yesterday and she was thanking me for taking care of her plants when she's gone next weekend. I told her where she got the hose from and she said her sister but it was too long so she cut off the end. I told her that long is not a problem but it's not useable short like that and I would try and get a hose mending fix for it so I can use the sprayer. She apologized and said 'she didn't know' and apologized....  

So yeah.. she tells me she got a hose to use for everyone and yet cut it off because it was too long for HER. 'Well meaning but not useful' is a common phrase. 

So what I am doing is pulling some of it out enough that I can put the end in the bucket and run it on medium, filled the milk jug to water the oregano and tomato twice and then filled the bucket up about halfway. 

Not even sure about using her hose at all even if I do fix it. Maybe get a hose splitter to put on the bib and take the ancient hose that's on the hanger in there and put a new one in. Will see what happens, other bills have to be paid next month.

Still hot as blazes...

 Going to be continuing this trend for at least another week but with some high light clouds overhead. Earlier, before we closed up for the day I got a whiff of wildfire smoke which explains some of the odd coloring in the sunlight. Oh and humidity is up above 60% which makes it double icky.

I haven't been out today or yesterday, these are from day before yesterday.  I made a point of making a water well around it just for that reason keeping the water around the roots. Helps immensely. In the other bed is trails from Layla watering on the mostly empty bed after pulling the two peppers. I swear I am going to start pepper seeds in February now because any later and I get no results. Sweet peppers are some of the earliest plants that we would get at the nursery and hot peppers wouldn't come in for another month or so after that. 

 

I decided to open the bag of compost that was on the right side and dig/spread it around. Couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to feel productive. That's just one bag and I  just used the trowel and my hands You can see the difference because of how much perlite is still in the soil from the raised bed mix. It's turning into a really good soil bed. This is a very barky mixture so digging the actual compost from below along with the raised bed soil with the perlite, it's looking really good now. 

When that tomato is done, or I give up on it, or something else happens  I'll dig the other two or three bags into that bed. Definitely will need the shovel to dig everything through and three more bags would be about right to raise the soil level almost tot the top...uncompacted. And of course, by the time all that is ready I'll hopefully have a repaired hose or new hose to use.

 

Oh! I saw a memory on FB that I got my surprise raised bed frame 3 years ago! Woohoo! Didn't plant anything until the following late winter/spring because I remember collecting leaves and logs for it in the winter. 

Between FB and this blog, it's a good journal for what happens in my life, gardening and other things. Everyone should do it, even if you think you're life is boring. George Washington kept a farm journal and when he was away, his wife would tally the temperature and weather conditions for him and send that off in a letter. 

Odd question for the day; Where did the song Old McDonald's Farm come from?

Some changes made, still hot.

 It has been in the mid to high 90's for the third day in a row so needless to say I don't get out to the garden until after sunset. 

This is one of the peppers in the west bed. Confused me for a few until I investigated and discovered a spider had pulled all the leaves together for a home. Sorry little one but the plant has to go. I pulled both the peppers and tossed them on the compost pile. The soil was barely damp and they pulled up easily because, hot and no water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pulled the last three peppers off the jalapeño and then pulled it up. Leaves were coming off easily as well as one, lone flower. It was trying but there were yellowing leaves so it had to go. 

Filled the milk bottle with water, then dumped a handful of fertilizer in the spot and mixed everything in before transplanting the little tomato. I was hoping the cage would go down further but it's hitting the logs at the bottom even after rotating it a few times that was the best I could do. If the little thing survives and grows, I have stakes to help. Yesterday I unhooked the hose and used the cat litter bucket to fill with some water. I realized  I can't lift anything heavy so likely only put in about a half gallon because, you know how well faucets spew out water. 

I don't think I left any water in the milk jug so might have to fill that again. Somehow. Might have to pull the hose out enough to fill the bucket and then use jug, I'll figure it out. Oregano is even yellowing a bit and like everything else, no growth in this heat and lack of water. I watered it well with the new hose a few days ago thankfully that is a tough plant. 

So anyway, not going to be a reasonable temp today until after dark but will try and go out while it's still light and check on the tomato.

Disastrous to say the least.

 I tried watering with the 'new' hose. Many cuss words were flying through my head, but lets start at the beginning.

I pulled the hose out and started uncoiling it. I swear they got this from some yard sale or some relative or something. Coiled that badly and it was cut off on the end, I have no idea why and it shortened the hose by about 5 feet. So turned on the water and immediately it started leaking from the faucet. SIGH. Shut it off and discover that they hadn't tightened the collar on the hose bib enough. I then slid the white 'anti kink' collar back up to where it was supposed to be and no leak. Gee, ya think?

That space between the wet dirt is where I had to stand because the amount of hose cut off was about 5 feet. I will be trying to get a water wand and the hose end mend kit next month. So I was watering using my thumb over the uneven cut off hose and yes, again it went as well as expected. Trying not to water drill the soil (fail) make sure that everything got wet enough (fail) and try not to get too soaked myself (fail).

Everything was as wet as I could get it, had to move soil back around the pepper plant and into the tomato pot. The soil, even as much as I watered, was still only wet about half an inch down. So dismal failure and will use the milk jug next time. I looked at the two bell peppers and sighed heavily. I am just done with everything this year. Going to pull those two out, pick the two jalapeños even if they are smaller than mature size, pull that plant,  then will consider planting the tomato.  At least it's growing and after I pulled off the lower leaves that seemed to have mites it's doing better. More than enough stem to bury for stability.

It's been a really frustrating and depressing late summer with everything else going on. Fall is still months away but now is the time to start seeds. Which I don't have the set up for yet and the weather is not entirely ready either.

So I will go price out the water wand and mending kit and hope I have wiggle room in the budget next month.